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White-tailed bumblebee

Bombus lucorumEusocial, colony dies each autumnKeeps only a few days of stores

One of the commonest bumblebees in northern Europe, and one that has quietly become three. Genetic work has split Bombus lucorum into a complex of at least three species — lucorum, cryptarum and magnus — that cannot reliably be separated in the field. It is a short-tongued generalist, an accomplished nectar robber, and one of the earliest bumblebees on the wing.

Can it sting?

Can sting and rarely does. Like all bumblebees it usually raises a middle leg in warning first. Nest defence is more serious than flower defence, so an underground nest is best left alone.

How to recognise it

Two lemon-yellow bands and a clean white tail. The yellow is brighter and more lemon than the buff-tailed bumblebee's, and the tail is pure white rather than buff — but worker buff-tails also have white tails, which is where most of the confusion comes from.

  • Bright lemon-yellow bands and a pure white tail.
  • Queens are large and appear very early, often February.
  • Reliable identification to species within the complex requires genetics; field records are usually recorded as the aggregate.
  • Frequently seen biting holes in the base of deep flowers rather than entering them.

Body length 11–20 mm (typically 15 mm).

Biology

Social organisation

Eusocial, colony dies each autumn

A true colony with a queen and workers, but only for one season: everyone dies in autumn except mated new queens, who overwinter alone. Bumblebees.

Colony size at peak
100–400 individuals
Colony lifespan
One season.
Winter
Mated new queens overwinter alone in soil or banks; everyone else dies in autumn.
Castes
Queen, Workers, Males, New queens
Nesting
Burrows in the ground; Existing cavities and tubes

Nests underground, usually in abandoned rodent burrows, and occasionally under sheds or in wall cavities. Colonies are moderately large by bumblebee standards.

Carries pollen
Corbicula (pollen basket) on the hind leg
On the wing
February to October

Lifecycle

  1. Early emergenceQueens emerge in February and March, among the earliest bumblebees, and are conspicuous searching low over banks and hedge bottoms.February to April.
  2. Colony growthBuilds through spring and early summer on a broad range of forage.
  3. ReproductionMales and new queens produced from midsummer; the colony dies in autumn.

Where it lives and what it does

Habitat
Almost everywhere — gardens, farmland, woodland edge, moorland, coastal land and upland. It goes higher and further north than most bumblebees.
Distribution
Across northern and central Europe and into Asia, and one of the most abundant bumblebees at high latitude.
Behaviour
A short-tongued generalist and a habitual nectar robber. Faced with a deep flower it bites a slit in the base and takes the nectar without touching the anthers — and honey bees, which cannot make the hole themselves, then use it. Watching a comfrey or bean patch shows the whole system operating within a few minutes.
Pollination role
An abundant and effective generalist pollinator of open and shallow flowers, and a significant crop pollinator. Its robbing behaviour means a proportion of its visits to deep flowers accomplish nothing for the plant.

High on accessible flowers, and reduced on deep ones it chooses to rob.

What it forages on
A broad short-tongued generalist. Heather, willow, bramble, clover, and whatever else is open.

Honey

Keeps only a few days of stores

A few days' worth of ripened nectar in wax pots, as with all bumblebees.

Relationship with people

How people interact with it
Abundant, familiar and routinely misidentified. Its splitting into a species complex is a good illustration of how much bee taxonomy remains unsettled even among the commonest species.
Conservation
Widespread and stable. It is one of the adaptable generalists rather than one of the declining specialists.

Sources

  • Bumblebees: Behaviour, Ecology, and Conservation — Oxford University Press (2010) · Monograph
  • Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide

How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.

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